Setting Shadows Alight
by Cookies-and-Ink
Summary: He'd survived heartbreak, exams and even his Mother. Going to work in a country he'd barely heard of couldn't be so difficult and working with dragons that had a habit of setting people on fire and/or eating them, well that would certainly take his mind off everything going on back home. – Written for 'A Year In The Life' challenge as well as numerous others.
1. Black and White - March 1991

**A/N: **The idea for this story originally came from the 'A Year In The Life Challenge' by HedwigBlack. Each chapter will cover a month of Charlie's life from March 1991 to February 1992 as he leaves school and goes to work at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. The prompt for the month of March was 'pain'.

Chapter One is also entered as Week 3 of the '52 Weeks of Writing 2013 Competition' with the prompt 'I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things.' and in the '2013 Fanfiction Writing World Cup' for Round One with the prompts 'running' and lyrics from 'Secrets' by One Republic.

Feel free to leave a review at the bottom,

Abby x

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**Black and White**

_March 1991_

"I'm in love with you and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things."

As soon as I said it I wanted to cringe, sure she'd just laugh at me like she always did. Suppressing my natural instinct to pretend I was joking I took a breath and kept eye contact. She blinked, mouth dropping slightly when she realised I was being sincere and as I watched her hair faded from bright pink to its natural black, her eyes darkening to a dark brown I couldn't read. Time seemed to slow as we both stayed frozen and then she took a shaky breath.

I felt my heart break at that second but refused to acknowledge it yet, not until I heard her say it.

"Charlie."

Nymph had never whispered my name like that, her eyes flicking from my face to the floor and her hair, her eyes didn't change. When I had dreamed of this moment her hair had turned a dusty pink, a mix of orange and red that you couldn't really describe as she blushed with embarrassment. She would grin widely, throw her arms around me and I would kiss her and then we would laugh. We would be happy.

"Charlie."

She said my name again and my fantasy faded back into a simple dream, pulling me to sit beside her as she took another slow breath, this time more controlled. She wouldn't meet my eyes and I wanted to run and keep running until I could take it all back. Gryffindor had just won a match which put us above Slytherin for the first time in three years and Tonks had ran into the changing rooms to congratulate me.

Why had I decided that moment was perfect to ruin everything? Why had I even though she'd say yes?

I couldn't watch her as she spoke, every word tearing apart whatever impossible future I had been naive enough to imagine lying in bed at night.

"Charlie… If you had told me that a year ago I would have wanted to cry from happiness. You have been my only friend through school, the one that was always there. You saved me after all that shit with Harrison, you were the one who helped me get my head straight, who convinced me that I didn't have to change my body to be loved, to be wanted.

I used to tell myself that you were too good for me, at the beginning when I realised I liked you. You were dating Doris at the time and I used to fantasise you would leave her. When I found out that she was cheating on you I was so happy and then you, you decided to forgive her! I couldn't understand, I was beyond furious. I used to listen to you go on and explain how much you still loved her and each word was a dagger to my heart.

I dated McGregor to try and make you jealous and you didn't react."

I couldn't look at her. Everything she said made no sense and as her voice broke on the last word I closed my eyes tight, unwilling to accept that there had been a time where she had wanted me. Was I so blind?

"I decided over the summer that I deserved better Charlie." she said quietly. "I applied for the Auror programme against my parent's wishes and when they gave me a conditional offer I knew I had another chance. I'm going to focus on my studies and go after what I want now.

I'm sorry Charlie but I've moved on and won't let myself get obsessed with a dream again."

She hesitated for a second and laid a hand on my shoulder. I refused to open my eyes, numb and broken, emotions making my thoughts scatter until I barely felt like I could think at all. All I could feel was pain, pain and the knowledge that I had had a chance and had been too stupid to take it. I wondered why she'd never told me what she'd thought and the heat of anger burned in the back of my mind, building up until I was so angry at the world for being so royally fucked up that I wanted to scream.

The Gryffindor changing rooms were empty when I opened my eyes to stare blearily at the lockers opposite me. No one would come in here looking for me, not when every Gryffindor over thirteen was probably attempting to get drunk at the party which would be going on until the early hours of the morning. Letting my head fall into my hands I gripped my hair tightly, my body shaking.

_'I've moved on and won't let myself get obsessed with a dream again.'_

In my dreams she had said yes, her hair colours I could never describe well enough.

She had loved me and I had been blind. I had poured the secret which had been eating at me and she had said no.

Reality always is black and white.


	2. Dragons vs Life - April 1991

**Dragons vs. Life**

_April 1991_

_Dear Mum and Dad, _

_ I thought I'd write and say hello._

_ You've no doubt heard about what happened with the twins a few days ago, Fred said that Professor McGonagall had flooed you she was so angry. I thought I'd try and tell you what really happened because I unlike Professor McGonagall or Bill was there._

_ The twins are… troublemakers, that's true but I honestly don't think they meant to turn Professor Vector into a flamengo. They're smart (and they are Mum, you know that. They just don't like to work.) but they're not that clever. It was all a misunderstand really, you see she thought they were smirking at her and so –_

Charlie paused, nibbling on the end of his sugar quill. It was pointless to try and deviate his Mum off the war path but he wanted a distraction from revising about the anatomy of a Hippogriff and helping out Fred and George had seemed like a good idea. It would at least put him in their good books for once – after he'd turned their hair blue two years ago they'd never forgiven him and they were getting extremely devious in their methods of catching him off guard. If they _were_ smart – it was debatable. – they wouldn't prank Percy as when Mum found out she'd get more mad than a stampeding rhino.

Now that was a bizarre image.

He sighed, massaging his eyes to try and prevent a headache developing even though it never worked. He needed to write this letter, not just to try and calm Mum down but to test the waters. Bill was the one who was good with the words though and he was off the grid, doing some sort of training with the goblins in Mongolia or somewhere ridiculous.

Flicking through the papers to his side Charlie stared at the leaflet again. He'd known what he wanted to do when school finished months ago after talking to Professor Kettleburn who had a friend working in Wales at the Dragon Reserve caring for new-borns. Charlie had gone down for a week's placement and it had been amazing, mind blowing and he'd immediately applied for any job going – apprenticeship, cleaning out the pens, he didn't care he just knew he wanted to live and work with dragons. It was their energy, their strength… They just fascinated him. Broaching the fact that he was going to work with dragons on minimal wage had been difficult enough. She'd screamed that he was throwing his qualifications away, that he was going to get eaten alive – and none of his brothers had helped with Percy constantly quoting statistics that had Dad turning green, Fred and George barraging him with questions about everything and Ron asking him if he could have his room when he died.

Even Bill, the one person who he thought would have had his back was a little sceptical.

Still, he'd argued and gotten through it, stubbornly ignoring them all like they knew he would. When they'd accepted him Mum had come with him to the Dragon Reserve and she'd been won around after talking to Charlie's soon to be boss, embarrassing him profusely in the process.

She always seemed to do that.

_This_ was different though. Charlie remembered when Bill had said he was going to work abroad and it made him shiver. Yes, the new opportunity was a lot more money but only because of the high – risk environment. He wouldn't be working with baby dragons, these would be nesting mothers, fully fledged. Terrifying fire – breathing beasts.

Rather like his mother in fact.

Charlie snorted to himself. Bulgaria… He'd never even been abroad since the Isle of Mann hardly counted. To go and work in a country where he didn't speak the language dealing with one of the most dangerous creatures known to man. Was he mad?

More like desperate.

He'd always felt hemmed in by the family, everyone's expectations and now with Nymphadora staunchly avoiding him and his mates all off with their own girls all he wanted to do was go and make his own life, away from all the bull that was going on. Bulgaria would be the perfect place to do that. No one would know he was Charlie Weasley, single and alone. Charlie Weasley with all the siblings under the sun – the brother that was wasted potential, who could have been so much more.

Gritting his teeth against his thoughts Charlie started writing again. His mind was set.

He needed to breathe, he needed to get away and if he was running well then at least it was to a better salary and a new life. Experiences that he would never have.

Hopefully Mum and Dad would see it that way too.

Dimly he wondered what Tonks would say when he told her – would he tell her? No he'd let her find out and then come to him. She probably wouldn't be like the others who'd tell him to not be stupid, that it was dangerous. Knowing her she'd ask for a dragon as a pet or photographs of his head on fire.

Charlie's grin faltered. He missed her. She was dating a Ravenclaw in the year below, there was a rumour that they'd had sex in the Prefect Bathroom. She hadn't spoken to him in weeks and he missed her laugh, her hair all the colours of the rainbow. Going away would be good for him… A change of scene, new friends. Something to focus on that wasn't the way she'd purposefully not looked at him last match, her eyes black and hair lank brown. In the near future having his Mum try and kill him would also take his mind of it too, the pain he felt every time he saw her kiss Yohney.

All he wanted was to turn back the clock and him be the one holding her in his arms.

Crumpling the paper up into a ball Charlie threw it into the fire, watching it burn.

His mind was made up so what happened next didn't really matter. Still if he did die – and there was quite a percentage of people who did, not that he would be telling the family that. – he didn't want the last thing Mum to say be in that voice she seemed to save for when she was furious, the one that sounded like a mix between a kettle and a lion's roar. Calming her down and making the best out of a tough situation meant decoy's and planning.

Bulgaria was far away from the twins. Hopefully far enough away at least.

Smirking to himself Charlie dipped his quill in ink and set about re-writing his letter, this time with a different objective.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_ Have you heard about the twins? I've only just heard and I'm absolutely shocked. How could they have turned a Professor into a flamingo?! I went to the Hospital Wing to see Professor Vector, we've all been missing her greatly in class._

_ I wanted to let you know that I'm going to discipline them personally but I think you should write to them too, they're just getting out of hand. I was never like that when I was their age Mum. Do you remember when I got the most house points out of anyone in my year? Professor Flitwick said –_

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**A/N: **This chapter was written for 'April' with the prompt _smirk - _for the A Year In The Life Challenge.


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